'We foresee in the next 3 to 5 years institutional trading flows will increase from the current 20% to over 50%', Qu said. 'As institutional investors have higher demands for better execution services, more powerful and sophisticated electronic trading platforms will become a key factor for brokerage firms to win market share'.

The government is targeting more capital from both large domestic and foreign investors to revive a stock market that has been among the world’s worst performers over the past three years. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen 36% since the start of 2010.

Communist leaders are holding a four-day gathering that ends today to map out an economic blueprint to sustain growth. The plenum is likely to release structural and financial reform plans, including capital account liberalization and increases in the size of investment schemes for foreigners, Zhang Zhiwei, Nomura Holdings’s China economist, wrote on 7th November China almost doubled investment quotas for the qualified foreign institutional investors program to $150bn in July.

Ian Bolland

A journalism graduate of Liverpool John Moores University. During his time at university, Ian spent time on work experience at local newspapers in Liverpool, Bolton and Wigan, and prior to that he did work for The Observer's 'fans verdict'. Ian also has interests in news, current affairs and business but mostly sport, including football, rugby league, cricket, golf and Formula 1, amongst others.